


Dance in the light of a lesson learned

by SquaresAreNotCircles



Series: Under the curving sky [3]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Coming Out, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Hospitals, M/M, POV Eric "E-Train" Russo, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 02:39:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17235794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SquaresAreNotCircles/pseuds/SquaresAreNotCircles
Summary: Eric finds a place in the circle of visitors near the end of uncle D’s bed and bends down a bit to reach Charlie’s level. “Yo, C-boy,” he says, and holds out his hand for a low five.Charlie gives him a wide grin and slaps his tiny palm into Eric’s. “Hi.”“Seaboy?” Steve asks, grinning even wider. “Where did he get that nickname?”Eric stops by Danny and Charlie’s hospital room one last time and gets to see the results of his meddling (as does the entirety of Five-0, by happy accident).





	Dance in the light of a lesson learned

**Author's Note:**

> IT'S STILL 2018. Barely, but it is. I'm a little hyped about that, because it took me over a month, but here’s part 3 of Curving Sky! It exists! The trilogy is finished! Hooray!
> 
> The title is a line from _Bridges Burn_ by NEEDTOBREATHE, who I don’t really know outside of this one song, but whose commitment to having their band name look like it’s yelled at you every time you read it I truly admire.
> 
> Small note: this is the third part of a series, and you can try to read this on its own, but it's almost definitely going to make more sense if you read the other parts first.

Eric is not the type to make the same mistake twice, so he stops by a toy store before he heads to the hospital. He finds out two things there: the first is that toys are ridiculously pricey (why do Legos have to cost more than his groceries? it’s just plastic), and the second is that he actually doesn’t really mind spending all that money. He works full time now, which means a steady stream of income, which means he can feel excited about buying his little cousin a gift without having to worry about his bank account too much. It’s very freeing.

Less freeing is the number of people already squeezed into Charlie and uncle D’s hospital room when he arrives. It seems that today’s lunch hour is a popular time to say hello to sick friends. The door has been left wide open, probably to let some air into the overfull room. 

He stops right outside, leaning a hand on the doorjamb, and tries to make himself heard over the talk and laughter spilling from inside. “Did I come at the wrong time?”

Kono, one of the people closest to the door, smiles at him. “Eric!” she says warmly. She puts a hand on his shoulder and he lets himself be pulled into the room very easily despite how uncomfortable it looks inside, because, well, it’s Kono. He doesn’t know how anyone could _not_ have at least a little bit of a crush on her.

People make room for him to pass. Chin, Lou, Jerry, Max – it looks like the entirety of Five-0 has decided to carpool to the hospital. They’re all clustered around uncle D’s bed, which has uncle D in it, sitting up against the headboard. Steve is perching on a corner of the mattress right next to uncle D and Charlie is on top of the covers at uncle D’s feet, playing with a camo print truck, which is kind of perfect.

Eric finds a place in the circle of visitors near the end of the bed and bends down a bit to reach Charlie’s level. “Yo, C-boy,” he says, and holds out his hand for a low five.

Charlie gives him a wide grin and slaps his tiny palm into Eric’s. “Hi.”

“Seaboy?” Steve asks, grinning even wider. “Where did he get that nickname?”

“He didn’t,” uncle D says. His tone is warning. “You’d like that, but don’t you dare start calling him that.”

“I meant the letter C.” Eric feels an explanation might be necessary at this point. Clearly the Hawaiian people aren’t versed in the finer points of nicknaming. “You know, C for Charlie. Like everyone calls me E-train.”

“Everyone calls you E-train?” Lou asks, which makes uncle D’s expression radiate an annoying amount of ‘I told you so’. 

Max speaks up, a puzzled look on his face. “But Charlie – C-boy – is a boy. You, E-train, are not a train. I’m curious as to the reasoning behind that.”

Eric has a feeling that his Jersey moniker is not going to be properly appreciated around here. He shrugs. “I don’t know, man. You’d have to ask U-boat and 8-ball. They came up with it.”

Max opens his mouth, but then closes it again. “Alright,” he says, which is by far the politest way anyone has ever implied that they think Eric might have some screws loose.

Eric still has the gift-wrapped box in his hand that he came in with. He decides to try to unload it before any further distractions pop up, because he thinks he deserves to get some cool cousin credit for this. “Hey, C-creature-”

“That’s worse,” uncle D groans, but Steve huffs a laugh and Jerry definitely makes an appreciative sound. It’s good to know there’s at least someone here who recognizes Eric’s ingenuity for what it is.

“I have a little something for you,” Eric finishes, ignoring uncle D and handing Charlie the present.

He takes it gently, but then starts ripping into the paper immediately, to laughter from the group. 

“What do you say when someone gives you a gift?” uncle D asks.

Charlie doesn’t pause in his uncovering of the box. “Thank you, Eric,” he drones. His eyes grow wide. “It’s a firetruck! That’s so cool!”

“That really is pretty cool,” uncle D agrees. He nods at Eric. “You earned your spot on the couch for the next week or so.”

Eric pretends to wipe some sweat from his forehead. “Wow, thanks, man.” He kind of hopes he’ll have found an affordable apartment and won’t be sleeping on anyone’s couch by this time next week, but it’s always good to have a back-up. 

Charlie, meanwhile, has handed the box to Steve, who seems to have procured a pocket knife from God knows where – probably somewhere on his own person – and is making quick work of the packaging. Eric keeps a close eye on uncle D, but he does nothing more than throw a slightly suspicious look at the knife. It doesn’t even seem to be aimed at Steve with the knife, just the knife itself, probably for how close it is to Charlie.

“I once thought about becoming a fireman,” Chin says. 

Eric gets mental flashes of Chin in one of his mom’s Hot Firemen Charity Calendars, which she started buying after that year uncle D posed for the HPD version. “Oh man, you should have done it,” he says, before he takes the time to consider if sharing this particular thought is a good idea. “You’re so cool the fire would have spontaneously extinguished itself.”

“Thanks.” Chin raises one devastatingly regal eyebrow. “I think.” 

“It was a compliment,” Eric assures him. Chin is a bit like Kono, which is to say ridiculously beautiful, competent and badass, but where Kono at least softens it with some smiles and relaxed surfer vibes, Chin has the kind of calm where Eric can never decide if he’s inwardly laughing at everyone around him, or if he might start shooting soon. Either way, it seems smart to stay on his good side.

“Hey, Danny,” Jerry says, while they all watch Steve hand an excited Charlie the firetruck, “speaking of gifts, I don’t see the flowers I gave you anywhere. What happened to them?” Jerry is referring to the night table next to Danny’s bed. It’s still crammed with the same cards, flowers and boxes of chocolates as last time Eric was here, but there is a suspiciously empty corner on the otherwise so full surface that looks like something must have stood there once.

“They probably wilted,” uncle D says. 

Jerry frowns. “They shouldn’t have. Not yet. It was this big, blue vase with a really pretty mixed bouquet and I bought it fresh. Did one of the nurses take them while you were sleeping? They do that sometimes, you know.”

“I’m glad you didn’t suggest it was aliens,” Lou says. 

Jerry looks faintly insulted. “Come on, what would aliens want with Danny’s flowers?”

Steve and uncle D exchange a quick look. “Hey Jerry,” Steve says, “were there, uh, some squiggly white lines on the vase?”

“Yeah!”

“Oh. Yeah, then I haven’t seen them.” Steve shifts, and it’s a bit hilarious how bad of a liar he is considering his current job, past career and general take-no-shit personality. “Strange that they disappeared.”

Kono shakes her head like she’s disappointed. “What did you do, boss?” Eric is glad he’s here with detectives, so he doesn’t have to be the one to call Steve out. He’s not sure he would have had the balls, but of course Kono does.

Uncle D grins, but there’s something just a little fake about it. That’s a red flag, because he’s not usually one to hide his true opinion on something as mundane as a get well gift. “Steve here protected me from the big, bad flowers.”

“It’s good of him to have your back even when you’re off-duty,” Chin says, deadpan. 

“Did you shoot them?” Kono asks. She’s backing up her cousin, but so gleeful about it that it doesn’t look as convincingly serious by far. “The scary mixed bouquet flowers?”

Eric folds his ring and pinkie finger to form a gun and mimes shooting at the remaining vase on the nightstand. It draws laughter from everyone, including uncle D. Only Steve and Charlie are unaffected, but in the latter case only because he’s far too engrossed in his toys to follow the adults’ conversation. Eric is sure Charlie will appreciate the joke in a couple of years. He’s a cool kid.

Steve scowls, because he’s cool too, but not right now. “I did not shoot them, no.”

Max holds up a finger like he’s about to lecture them. “Actually, there are many plants that could be problematic for allergy sufferers, so not keeping them in a hospital room might be smart.” There’s a confused lull in the conversation and Steve’s scowl starts to lift, but then Max continues. “Shooting them would probably exacerbate rather than solve the issue, though.”

“I didn’t-” Steve cuts himself off with a sigh, which Eric only hears over the new wave of laughter because he happens to still be close enough. Eric gets the impression that Steve is playing his annoyance up a bit for the general amusement. “I knocked over a vase and it shattered. It was an accident, but I’m sorry about your flowers, Jerry.”

“Nah,” Jerry says, even though he does still sound a little rueful. “It’s fine.”

Lou gives Jerry an encouraging pat on the back. “Do we need to talk this out? Get Steve and Danny’s psychologist in here?”

“I feel like all I’ve been doing lately is sit in this bed and talk,” uncle D complains.

“Really? Just talk?” Steve’s looking straight at uncle D while he says it, and with the way uncle D stares back Eric would almost start reading something into it. That is, until Steve grins and continues, “Poor you, Danno. We all know how you hate to talk too much.” He seems to have forgotten his bad mood already, further adding to Eric’s theory that the teasing didn’t bother Steve as much as he was making it seem.

“Oh yes.” Uncle D’s face somehow stays completely sober. Eric is finding out all kind of things about Five-0’s acting skills this afternoon. “I would prefer to never say a word at all, but sadly there’s you in my life, and you keep forcing me to tell you how ridiculous you are. It’s a burden I’ll have to bear.”

“You better,” Steve says, and, well, really? Seriously? 

Eric looks around at the assembled visitors to see if he’s the only one with an urge to shine a spotlight at uncle D’s face until he admits that this is blatant flirting, but nobody around him seems to be batting an eye at what’s happening right under their noses. And most of them have to notice things for a _living_.

For the first time, Eric is a tiny bit worried about his safety if he stays on these islands.

While fruitlessly in search of a fellow sufferer, he spots the way Charlie is playing with his toy trucks. He’s smooshing the fronts of the camo print truck and the firetruck that Eric just gave him together, like he’s enacting a prolonged slow motion car crash. It looks a tiny bit worrying. “Charlie, my man,” Eric says, because he’s not brave enough to try any other nicknames today, “what are you doing?”

Charlie glances up and startles a little when he finds all eyes on him, but it doesn’t take him long before he realizes he could also bask in the attention. He holds both of his toys aloft. “This one,” he informs his adoring public, waving the camo print truck in a demonstrative way that is very reminiscent of moves his dad would make, “is uncle Steve.”

Steve beams and reaches over to ruffle Charlie’s hair like he can’t help himself. “Because I gave it to you?”

Charlie nods. “Yes, and because you were in the Navy, but not the Army.” 

Steve’s beam becomes even beamier, incredibly. Uncle D rolls his eyes.

“And this one-” Charlie now waves the other truck. “-is Danno, because he’s great and firetrucks are also great.”

That’s all it takes for uncle D’s face to go soft. He nudges Charlie’s hip with his foot from under the blanket. “Thanks, buddy.”

“That’s really sweet,” Jerry says. He’s smiling, so he seems to have mostly forgotten the tragedy of his ruined flowers.

“It’s pretty cute,” Eric agrees. He’s still a little confused, though. “So what were the Steve and Danno trucks doing? Are they fighting?”

“No.” Charlie smooshes the trucks back together. “Kissing.”

The ensuing silence lasts all of two seconds.

“Even your _kid_ ,” Kono crows, while Lou guffaws, Jerry’s whole body shakes and Chin looks amused to a degree that for other people would mean they’d be rolling on the floor laughing. 

It’s just another married joke and that’s pretty great, but there must be more to it than that. Max’s quiet isn’t out of character, but Steve and uncle D’s definitely is. There aren’t even any rolling eyes or token protests – it’s highly incriminating.

So Eric turns back to his cousin, the most uncorrupted source of information at his disposal. He thinks this is what Einstein must have felt like moments before discovering his theory of relativity. “Kissing, huh? That’s nice. And where did you get the inspiration for that?”

“You don’t have to tell him, Charlie,” uncle D interrupts, because he’s a spoilsport. He shoots Eric a look that says as much, even if he probably meant it to convey a different message. “He’s just being silly.”

Charlie is quiet while he looks from Eric to Steve and uncle D. “Is it a secret?” 

“No, it’s not,” uncle D says, and that’s all kinds of interesting. “Grown-ups are just weird sometimes. You know that.”

Charlie nods, but he looks at Steve like he still thinks Steve might be mad.

Steve, who hasn’t said a word since Charlie’s initial revelation, shakes himself out of whatever stupor he’s in immediately to lean closer to Charlie and raise his eyebrows at him. He puts a calming hand on the bed close to Charlie, which Charlie takes without hesitation, so Steve turns his hand to hold Charlie’s properly. “Hey, Danno’s right, bud. You did nothing wrong.”

Holy shit, Eric thinks. He was right.

“Wait a second,” Lou says, back in the world where people talk out loud. He holds up a large hand, like he’s asking them to physically stop doing something, but they’re all just standing around uncle D’s hospital bed and talking. “So this is for real? It’s not just little Charlie telling stories?”

“Charlie wouldn’t lie,” Steve says. He shares a look with Charlie and smiles, with such complete and utter pride that it hurts even Eric’s heart a little. He can’t even begin to imagine what it does to uncle D’s.

Uncle D does something with his face that looks like it was supposed to be a frown, but somewhere in the middle of it he forgot what a frown looks like. “Yeah, it’s for real. Be very careful about what you say next, please. My son is right there.”

Before anyone can say anything at all, Charlie-appropriate or not, Kono steps forward and socks uncle D in the arm. He visibly winces and clutches at the spot, and it’s a fifty-fifty on if it’s really that bad – on the one hand, uncle D likes to exaggerate a little for the dramatics, but on the other, Eric is absolutely sure that Kono packs a mean punch when she wants to. 

“Seriously? After _seven years_?” Kono asks, sounding close to laughter again. “Just when I was getting about ready to accept that it would never happen? Just when we were all forgetting about the bets?”

“Bets?” Steve looks bewildered. “What bets?”

“You’re so lucky you’re pretty,” uncle D tells him.

If Eric had a keyboard in front of him right now, he’d smash it.

“I’ll collect my winnings later,” Chin says, before he so seamlessly transitions into less unsavory, betting-on-your-friends’-love-lives waters that Eric could almost believe he heard him incorrectly. “I’m happy for you guys. Long as you’re happy, it’s all good.”

“Ditto,” Lou says. He mutters something about how that’s true even if they’re costing him fifty dollars, but Eric only catches half of it.

“Yes, of course. But I’m not sorry for punching you.” Kono taps uncle D’s shoulder, and it’s a friendly gesture this time, but he still leans away from her. Steve sits up straighter in response, like he intends to protect uncle D from their big, bad, tiny teammate, just like he apparently did with some flowers.

“Thanks, Kono,” uncle D says. He looked a little flushed when Charlie said the thing about kissing, but his color has returned to normal already. Maybe this all feels like it was a long time coming, to him, too. “You could try directing the punches at Steve next time.”

“Hey,” Steve protests, while somehow simultaneously managing to project that he’d jump from a plane without a parachute if he thought it would do uncle D any good.

Max clears his throat, but nobody except Eric seems to really notice until he does it again. He adjusts his glasses before he starts talking. “So if I understand correctly, I was mistaken in my assumption that Commander McGarrett and Detective Williams have been in a romantic relationship ever since I first made their acquaintance?”

Uncle D just groans, but Steve has the decency to nod at Max. “Yeah, Max. But if it makes you feel any better, you weren’t the only one who thought so, clearly.” Steve shoots a look at Eric, which Eric chooses to ignore because it’s the smartest choice in so many ways.

Instead, he holds up his fist for Max. “Hey bro, welcome to the club.”

Max taps his fist to Eric’s a little hesitantly, but he does do it. This is much better than that time Eric tried to fist bump granddad and he shook Eric’s hand. 

“And you’re a lot more polite about it, too,” Steve continues to Max. “You managed not to imply any of my private parts are so forgettable Danno just didn’t remember that he’d been sleeping with me all this time.”

Eric can feel any high ground he might have had being tugged out from under him in one fell swoop. “Uh,” he says, once again uncomfortably aware of the fact that Steve has probably been trained to kill people with a paperclip in ten different ways. There are no paperclips here, but Steve can be charming enough that the nurses would definitely find him one, if he asked. Eric has wit, sometimes, but no defense against that. “I didn’t know you knew about that.”

“You did instruct him to pretend you told him ‘everything’,” uncle D points out, complete with air quotes around the last word. “How was I supposed to know it didn’t include that part?”

It’s easier than Eric thought it would be to work up some indignation. “Really? I’m the reason you get together and this is the thanks I get?” 

“You’re the reason they got together?” Kono asks.

“Long story,” uncle D tries to deflect. 

“Not really,” Steve says, half through uncle D. Uncle D waves him off like a fly and pretends like it makes sense he’s still talking to Eric.

“I’d offer you flowers, but Steve knocked them to the floor when Charlie caught us kissing.”

Kono is not the only one who makes her shocked amusement heard at that. Eric is amazed to hear Chin, of all people, whoop.

“Yeah, look,” Steve says, “that would make me feel a lot more awkward if I didn’t know that at the time you were completely flustered because your nephew said you were very obvious about your feelings for me.”

Uncle D starts to pull a face, but Steve inches his hand closer to uncle D’s on top of the covers until their fingers touch, and uncle D completely seems to forget that he was about to project how displeased he is with the world. Steve now has the fingers of one hand slightly overlapping uncle D’s while he’s still holding Charlie’s hand with the other, even though Charlie has long since gone back to being distracted by his toys. They paint an incredibly domestic picture, the three of them on the bed.

“Aww,” Eric says, out loud, because he thinks he’s earned the right to be a little shit for a moment or two. Kono grins at him. It’s kind of awesome. 

“This is one of the best hospital visits I’ve ever been on,” she says, which causes Lou to shake his head at her.

“One of? How often do you visit people in hospital and something good happens?”

Chin is looking at his watch when he interrupts them. “She can tell you in the car. Our lunch hour was over twenty minutes ago and we have a case to get back to. Eric, you need a ride?”

“No, thanks. I drove myself here.” His rental is extremely lame, but it’s his, for now. As much as he’d like to hear Kono’s story, he can’t just leave it in a hospital parking lot.

Goodbyes are said and fist bumps are given. Sooner than Eric expects, Chin, Kono, Lou, Jerry and Max file out of the room, taking most of the bustling activity with them, but leaving a mind-boggling amount of space to breathe.

“When do you have to go back?” uncle D asks Steve. Eric doesn’t miss the way their fingers are completely tangled up by now.

“I’m taking the afternoon off. They can manage without me for a few hours.”

Uncle D grins, and Eric would call him smitten if he didn’t have the way Steve is looking at uncle D in return to compare it to. “Wow, babe, I’m so proud. You’re really getting a handle on those control issues.”

“Nah,” Steve says, casually, “I’m driving when they let you out of here.”

Eric wonders if they even know that he’s still there, of if he’s been completely forgotten by now. Even Charlie isn’t paying him any attention, because he’s happily running the firetruck up and down uncle D’s blanket-covered leg, making little car noises. There’s a long moment where Steve and Uncle D just stare at each other and Eric seriously considers trying to sneak out on a SEAL.

“Speaking of,” Steve continues, eventually, “I’ll go see if I can find a nurse. Ask if we can break you out yet.”

“Ha,” Eric says, mostly as a reminder that he exists. Both uncle D and Steve look at him, so he scrambles for something to follow up. “Do you have a plan B to help him escape if they don’t want to let him go?”

“Of course,” Steve says. “And you’d like it, Danno. It involves no more than two grenades.”

Uncle D’s eyebrows lift. “Oh, that’s good. You won’t even exhaust your secret car stash, then.”

Steve winks at uncle D, actually _winks_ , but then gets up from his perch on the bed and leaves the room with a last pat to Charlie’s head. Eric is a bit relieved. It was fine with everyone else there, but when he’s with just the two of them and a very distracted three-year-old, it’s almost uncomfortable how much they’re still in the honeymoon stage, especially because he’s sure they were already holding back on his and Charlie’s account. He can’t imagine how he thought they were dating before, because he’d clearly never seen them actually date. 

He marvels at how it’s possible that this is worse than watching his mom and her boyfriend of the month. 

“I guess I should get going, too,” he says, because he can still marvel at things at home, if he wants. It’s probably safer there.

“Yeah, that might be for the best. I think Charlie’s going to have to take a nap soon.” Charlie completely ignores uncle D’s unsubtle nudge, but uncle D just smiles at that. “Thanks again for the truck. He really loves it.”

“He’s very welcome,” Eric says, and means it. New life lesson learned, among all the others from today: all the money spent on costly toys is completely worth it. It might lead to the most unexpected relationship reveal ever, but most of all, it made Charlie have a good moment. “By the way, I’ve been updating mom and grandma, so you won’t have to worry about them blowing up your phone with questions about if you’re okay until at least late tonight.”

“Thanks. That’s good. Did you tell them about-” Uncle D does a complicated series of gestures with one hand that involves pointing at his own chest, making a circling motion in the direction of the door that Steve disappeared through and then wiggling his fingers at Charlie’s trucks almost defeatedly. “You know, Steve and me?”

Eric holds in a snort only because uncle D looks a little nervous. “Could’ve just said that,” he can’t resist pointing out anyway. “But no. I figured that was your story to tell, right?”

“Good.” Uncle D nods. “It is.”

Eric grins at him. “Not that you’ll have to be telling a whole lot, probably, with the way you’ve already been talking about Steve non-stop every time you called home.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

There is someone else Eric would like to update. “Does Grace know, this time?”

Uncle D shakes his head, but he can’t hide his amusement. Eric feels stupidly proud. “Yes, she does. She came by this morning and I told her, and I’m glad I did, because this just now wasn’t exactly planned.”

Eric tries to imagine how that conversation went, exactly. He’s sad he missed it. He’s by far the oldest grandchild in the Williams clan, but Grace is the second, and they’ve always been about as close as cousins who have been living on opposite sides of the country for almost half a decade can be. He vividly remembers one text conversation from just after last Christmas where they talked about how much uncle D clearly liked Steve McGarrett, and Eric is dying to ask Grace what exactly she thought he was talking about at the time, now that he knows there was no actual relationship yet to be spoken of. 

“Hey, uncle D.”

“What?” uncle D asks, pretending to be incredibly miffed by Eric’s non-question.

“Nothing,” Eric says, just to stretch the annoyance out a little further. He pauses a bit for effect, too. “I’m just really glad it all worked out for you.”

Uncle D looks at him for a long moment. He doesn’t smile, but his face does relax, and he looks more open than Eric has maybe ever seen him. “Yeah, me too.” He holds out his arms. “Hey, come here, you big lug.”

“They’re letting you out any moment now,” Eric says, but he does step closer to let uncle D hug him. “You could’ve gotten up, but you’re just lazy.”

“I’m feeling like a doting uncle. Don’t ruin it. I love you, Eric.”

Eric’s throat feels a little tight all of a sudden. “Love you too, uncle D.” 

He slaps uncle D on the back one last time and then straightens back up. He hadn’t realized just how much he needed a hug, but he feels better after it. More settled, maybe. Moving to Hawaii has been easily the best thing he’s done in his life, but also incredibly scary, and little Charlie being in hospital hasn’t helped. 

Not that he’s going to say any of that, obviously. He pulls out his best puppy eyes instead. “Does the doting thing mean you’ll let me drive the Camaro?”

Uncle D openly laughs at him. “Nice try. No.”

Eric pouts, but it’s not like he’d expected anything else. He knows uncle D loves him, but Eric is not Steve.

He gets himself a hug from Charlie before he leaves, too, because he’s completely back on board with the awesomeness of hugs now. As soon as he steps into the hallway, he gets out his phone and starts texting Grace. 

That might have something to do with why he almost runs into Steve on his way to the elevator. He swerves just in time to step around Steve instead, and now that he’s been distracted from his celebratory text already, he figures, hey, might as well go for broke, after a day this good. He walks backwards a couple of steps so he can stick up a hand at Steve. “See ya, uncle S.”

Steve looks bewildered for all of two seconds before his face breaks out into a grin that can’t be described as anything other than downright incandescent. “Later, E-train,” he calls back.

Eric really likes his current job, but he thinks that maybe he should consider a change in careers after all. Clearly, he’s brilliant as a matchmaker.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this worked on at least some level, because it was an unexpectedly difficult thing to write. There was just... so much talking. I just wanted to do some fluff with Eric and Danny and Steve and Charlie to round this series out, but then the rest of the team showed up and I couldn't kick them out because I love them so suddenly I had nine characters to juggle??? Oh gosh.
> 
> But thank you for reading!! I would love to hear what you thought of it. ❤
> 
> I'm on Tumblr as [itwoodbeprefect](https://itwoodbeprefect.tumblr.com), or with my exclusively H50 (and mostly McDanno) sideblog as [five-wow](https://five-wow.tumblr.com).


End file.
